ONE YEAR CANCER FREE!

Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. ...Touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace. Frederick Buechner


This post will be short but I wanted to stay in touch....I could talk about my hair - which is still a cross between Woody Woodpecker and Foghorn Leghorn. I have a perpetual Mohawk every morning when I wake up and there is still no response to the use of a brush. I could talk about the progression of physical and emotional symptoms, the anxiety of recurrence, the anxiety of facing the future and all that that entails. Jobs are not available in abundance at the present time and nothing is guaranteed.

But, instead, I'll talk a little about staying grounded. This week marks the One Year Anniversary of being CANCER FREE!!.....maybe....you never know....My last cancer was found by pathology following my "just in case" mastectomy and reconstruction on August 11, 2009. On August 22nd, it will be two years since I was first diagnosed. I can remember it like it was yesterday.

But a lot has happened in the past two years. I was hoping that I'd feel better by now. I have had a difficult time this summer dealing with the heat. I have found that I can't deal with it. It wipes me out. Of course it doesn't help that it has been 100 degrees almost every day. The GI side effects from chemo and Femara make me glad that I paid attention to Jamie Lee Curtis and her Activia obsession...very helpful....but I am also healing and getting stronger. My body is just beginning to feel like me again.

I saw Dr. Kennedy on August 2nd. I had my port flushed and it was easily accessed for blood. I've got the routine down. As I was sitting in the examination room remembering how stifling hot it could get in the winter, Dr. Kennedy told me that she wanted me to start taking Boniva (from Jamie Lee to Sally Field....love the commercials of her playing Twister, or sitting on the dock...notice that the camera does not show her getting up from the sitting position...) Anyway, the Femara depletes calcium so I am taking calcium supplements with D3 and soon I will add Boniva to that. If you ever want to scare yourself, read the possible side effects of that drug. After a thorough exam, Dr. Kennedy seemed happy with my progress. I will be seeing her again in December and having my port flushed in October.

I am humbled by the fact that so many of the people who went through treatment with me have died. There have been many losses. I ask all of you to please pray for the family of my friend Carole Oggero who died shortly after her diagnosis. She was kind and generous and loving. She was a good friend to me and helped me during my treatment. She sent me a quotation that I kept next to me and read every day. I will miss her. Please pray also for the family of Tom Donahue (especially for Lucille who will never know how much her love and support has meant to me) Tom always called me "Susie Q" and was a model of faith. My friend Beth went through treatment when I did and then died following a recent surgery. They are all in my prayers.

As always, I have more questions than answers so I continue to sit quietly and wait for the answers to come. I have re-read this whole blog from the beginning and what I have learned is that....I am pretty funny....stay tuned for other musings and aha moments....